Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Housing bribe-takers busted

Five people were arrested Tuesday in connection to a corruption probe of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development — two months after a top housing official who took bribes began cooperating with the feds.

The FBI busted HPD Director of Construction Services Michael Provenzano on charges of he sold his office for cash and a bottle of booze. Former HPD inspector Luis Adorno of the architecture and engineering section was also charged with soliciting bribes.

In March former HPD Deputy Commissioner Wendell Walters pleaded guilty to taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.

Provenzano allegedly met with another cooperating witness at a café in Valley Stream, L.I., in 2004 and offered to pass non-public information about upcoming real estate development projects being put up for bid by HPD, the court papers state.

Provenzano accepted a free bottle of liquor from the source and later glommed $10,000 in yearly payoffs from the unidentified witness who was a general contractor.

In exchange for the cash, Provenzao also provided the witness with inspection reports for HPD projects, which contained the number of workers at each site.

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"The difference between dishonest and honest graft: for dishonest graft one worked solely for one's own interests, while for honest graft one pursued the interests of one's party, one's state, and one's personal interests all together." - George Washington Plunkitt

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